Despite ‘Down Year ‘Braves’, Matt Olson is still among the elite first basemen

Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson struggled for much of the 2024 season. But he was also a victim of his own success: the high standard he set with the team during his incredible 2023 campaign.

That’s what Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter argued when ranking the best first basemen of the 2024 season. Even with disappointing numbers, Reuter rated Olson as one of his top five first basemen of 2024.

The Bleacher Report analyst ranked Olson No. 5 among his first basemen.

“After a 54 home run, 139 RBI season that saw him finish fourth in the 2023 NL MVP voting, Matt Olson took a step back in the third season of his eight-year, $168 million deal with the Atlanta Braves,”wrote Reuter. “However, he finished strongly and performed at an elite level in the final two months of the season.

“The 30-year-old could be primed for another big season in 2025, and even in what was a down year by his standards, he was still a 3.8-WAR player.”

Even with the recession, the only first basemen Reuter scored ahead of Olson were Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman and Pete Alonso.

Through the final two months of the season, Olson hit .289 with a .547 slugging percentage. He averaged .283 with a slugging percentage of .604 when he was a 2023 MVP candidate.

Olson also had almost as many RBI in his last 55 games (48) as he had in his first 107 games (50) last season.

Add it all up and Olson hit .247/.333/.457 with 29 home runs, 98 RBI and 78 runs in 685 plate appearances in 2024.

It was the first time Olson failed to reach 30 home runs and 100 RBI while playing at least 130 games since 2018. But the Braves first baseman narrowly missed those marks — another 2-run home run, and he has both milestones reaches.

So not hitting those plateaus shouldn’t really change how we view Olson’s 2024 campaign. It was extremely frustrating at times, but he turned it around and led the team to the postseason. Without that turnaround, the Braves likely won’t extend their playoff streak to seven seasons.

As Reuter noted, the turnaround could bode well for Olson in 2025. He tends to be a very streaky hitter, with his hot streaks able to continue for months.

The 2023 season was pretty much one very long hot streak for Olson. He could very well experience that again next summer.